A focus stacked Rhodactis sp. (it's a relative to corals). I deliberately didn't get whole depth of field to produce a different feel.

The creature is slow, but enough to test my patience to the very limits. It moves between two frames even if I run my setup (stackshot with 5dmk3 mp-e) at full speed. So I've been making stacks for hours non stop (thanks to whoever invented 128gb cf cards!!) and finally caught a nice angle and almost no motion within 30 frames.

So I went further and made a stereo pair... because zs and other pieces of software were creating lots of artifacts at all settings, I did it manually. Yep, quite an annoying job, even though I didn't have hundreds of shots. After 3 weeks of assembling (few hrs a day), here's the result:

Will I ever do it again? No way! But hope this colorful underwater invertebrate was worth it.

I kept the animal in a tank specially built for photography (nothing fancy, just thin glass) and the camera with the stackshot was obviously not immersed. If anybody asks how I got the animal - I live in Australia; the rest should be clear

Absolutely wonderful, I have no words for the stereo! congratulations_________________They brought Xi into a place where there were several people. He smiled at them in greeting, but nobody smiled back.

Joined: 07 Nov 2006Posts: 1533Location: Germany, in the United States of Europe

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:55 pm Post subject:

I somehow had missed this one before.
Marvellous indeed, my monitor screen seems to have turned into the pane of a salt water aquarium!

--Betty_________________Atticus Finch: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view
- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Lee, N. H. 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott, New York.

This is really good. You should consider entering it in the next Nikon small World competition._________________A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts. -- Joshua Reynolds
“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” — Brian Tracy